In many security conscious corporate environments, IT policies are defined and implemented for computer networks that impede access and/or control of computers that are part of the computer network by remote computers. For example, employees are often instructed to shut down or put into “SLEEP/STANDBY MODE” their personal computer connected to a local computer network (such as a LAN or WAN) before leaving the office. This tends to defeat the purpose of many solutions for accessing and/or controlling from the remote computer of the personal computer that has been shut off is no longer available for remote access/control. Typically, in this case where an attempt is made to remotely access/control the personal computer in question, an error message is received indicating that the personal computer is unavailable.
Prior art solutions exist that enable a remote computer to send a communication (a message or control signal) to a particular computer that is part of a computer network behind a firewall. These solutions include Virtual Private Network (“VPN”) solutions as well as Dynamic DNS technology (“DDNS”). VPN solutions generally require that a port be opened on the VPN server, which results in security concerns. In regard to DDNS based solutions, a port on the firewall generally has to be opened and a publicly addressable IP address has to be associated with the remote computer. VPN solutions are generally expensive to implement, and also generally require the aforesaid port to be opened, which can also result in security concerns. While DDNS based solutions are generally less expensive than VPN based solutions, they generally provide less security than a VPN solution and require that an IP address of the remote device be known to the computer network. This adds to the time required to manage the sending of digital signal(s) to computers connected to the computer network from remote devices.
Technologies exist for waking up personal computers in the “SLEEP/STANDBY MODE”. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 20050198219, assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, provides a “Unicast Messaging for Waking Up Sleeping Devices”. This technology discloses a method for broadcasting wake-up messages to a personal computer from a remote computer provided the personal computer's network layer and link layer addresses are both available and known to the remote computer. In particular, this technology provides means for waking up a personal computer in “SLEEP/STANDBY MODE” by broadcasting a message to the “sleeping computer” using the network layer plus the link layer network address without using the known “wake-up on LAN” feature from the PC BIOS. It should also be understood that while there are benefits to this prior art technology, it does not apply to both the “SLEEP/STANDBY MODE” and the “SHUTDOWN MODE”, and more importantly the use of the network layer is a requirement. Technically, when a personal computer is in its “SHUTDOWN MODE”, the network layer address is either not available and/or invalid. Therefore, this technology does not generally work for personal computers in their “SHUTDOWN MODE”.
There is a need for a system, computer program and method that enables sending of digital signal(s) to a computer connected to a local computer network such as a LAN, from a remote computer (i.e. that is remote from the local computer network). There is a further need for such a system, computer program and method that is secure, easy to implement, and easy to manage.